How one scientist is blending ancient philosophy with modern neuroscience to fight addiction by Michael W.? Taft Heart racing and fists shaking, I stood ready to fight. I was moments away from sparring with the top student in my karate class in Japan: a fast, coordinated monster who had defeated all challengers. But nanoseconds before the fight began, something shifted. Nervous anticipation disappeared and I snapped into total focus. The room, the other students, and everything else faded into irrelevance, leaving my awareness filled only with my opponent in his white gi. When the coach shouted, ?Go!,? my body shot through the air like a lightning bolt, my fist connecting to my opponent?s ribs. Somehow I had scored a point against the best in the class, but paradoxically I didn?t care. All that mattered in that moment was that timeless flash when there was no sense of self, no me, just a body effortlessly flying through space toward the inevitable goal. That moment of flow remains one of the most powerful and beautiful things I have ever experienced. Which is why, 25 years later, I find myself sitting in a tight blue cap with a 120 electrical leads wired to … Read More